The invention relates generally to a distribution machine and associated methods, and more particularly, to a distribution machine for distributing medical supplies and medications (e.g., “medical items”), including controlled substances, at a remote location such as a healthcare facility where the patient or recipient is located, a community center of a residential complex, and similar direct or indirect distribution locations.
Medication supply companies have commonly provided Automated Dispensing Cabinets (ADC's) at hospitals and other healthcare facilities to extend the inventory of non-prescription medications to locations proximate to the patients that may require such medications. These Automated Dispensing Cabinets enable a nurse or another authorized user to request medications on demand for rapid delivery to a patient. One known type of Automated Dispensing Cabinet includes a plurality of lockable drawers with a plurality of lockable bins in each drawer. In this drawer-type of Automated Dispensing Cabinet, an authorized user selects a particular medication and then a corresponding drawer and bin containing that medication are unlocked so that the user can retrieve the medication and remove it from the ADC. These conventional Automated Dispensing Cabinets have improved the ready access of medication and medical supply inventory in hospitals and other facilities.
Depending on the relative sizes of the bins and the drawers, a drawer-type Automated Dispensing Cabinet generally includes up to 300-400 bins for holding doses of medication. In order to maximize the inventory available onsite, many of the bins typically receive multiple doses of a medication. As a result, any time a nurse or other authorized user accesses a particular bin, that user has access to a plurality of doses of the requested medication. These Automated Dispensing Cabinets therefore provide additional inventory that can range into the thousands of unit doses of up to 300-400 different types of medication. One continuing problem with these cabinets is the retrieval of multiple doses from the bin when only a single dose has been requested. A user may take extra doses from the cabinet by accident or for a plurality of malicious reasons, including unauthorized distribution or sale to other persons. This diversion of inventory affects the management of the available inventory and may significantly delay the delivery of a needed medication or medical supply to a patient when the loss is discovered. Furthermore, with multiple users accessing the cabinet regularly, it can be difficult to determine which authorized user diverted the inventory to hold that user accountable for the loss of inventory. When a controlled substance is diverted, the facility is subject to an intense investigation with a high burden of paperwork to determine the offending party and correct the problems with the dispensing of inventory. These problems have caused a lack of confidence in these Automated Dispensing Cabinets in state and federal agencies that would normally approve such devices for use in many settings.
More recently, medication supply companies have extended the use of Automated Dispensing Cabinets to long-term care facilities, which may be located in a remote area that is a significant distance from the closest pharmacy or hospital. In these remote areas, the accurate monitoring and control of inventory is even more critical. In addition, these long-term care facilities generally require the distribution of a higher number of different medications because these facilities manage both the various prescriptions that patients are taking as well as non-prescription medications such as pain medication for on demand use and medical supplies. To this end, a long-term care facility may actually require up to 1400-1500 different medications or groups of medications (e.g., in patient-specific blister packages or pouches) or more compared to the 300-400 medications that are desirable to have on demand in a traditional hospital or other healthcare setting. Conventional Automated Dispensing Cabinets simply do not have enough bins or compartments, within an acceptable or allowable footprint, to accommodate these potential needs regarding the breadth of inventory necessary in a long-term care facility. Moreover, the higher number of medications needed by a long-term care facility is likely to include a number of controlled substances, which must be carefully regulated and monitored to comply with federal and state regulations. In addition, the Automated Dispensing Cabinets have not included monitoring or sensing systems that can accurately detect the diversion of additional or incorrect medications from a bin of a drawer containing multiple doses or medications. In sum, known Automated Dispensing Cabinets are not suitable for the provision of the high number of medications needed while also ensuring acceptable levels of regulation and monitoring of controlled substances.
Additionally, several known Automated Dispensing Cabinets include complex drive mechanisms and/or sensors for controlling an automated dispensing of medications from the cabinet. These complex systems add significant cost and time to the manufacturing of the Automated Dispensing Cabinet and also provide significantly more elements that can fail and stop proper operation of the Automated Dispensing Cabinet. These additional failure modes increase the rate of maintenance and repairs necessary to keep the Automated Dispensing Cabinet in operation, thereby increasing the likelihood that the cabinet will not be available to dispense medications when needed by patients.
Consequently, it would be desirable to provide an apparatus and method for onsite distribution of medications and medical supplies that addresses one or more of these concerns with conventional Automated Dispensing Cabinets.